Aquatics Star Satoshi Shinkawa Named
2021 George Silveria Memorial Student-Athlete Award
The George Silveria Memorial Student/Athlete Career Award was established in 1966 by the Booster Club Board of Directors to honor and serve as a memorial for George Silveria. George was a graduate of San Luis Obispo District Junior College in 1948. He was the captain of the Championship football team in 1947, an executive member of the student body, a very good student and, extensively involved in the community. He truly exemplified the meaning of student/athlete and was well respected by his teammates, coaches, teachers, and peers. George served in World War II and died of Leukemia in 1961.
The George Silveria Memorial Student/Athlete Career Award was established in 1966 and takes into consideration the student/athletes' career as an athlete, their involvement in the college and community, sportsmanship, citizenship, 'coachabilty' and leadership on and off the field.
The George Silveria Memorial Student/Athlete Career had been given annually and from 1966 to 2002 as the only honor presented. Cuesta began giving a men's and a women's award in 1978 and did so until 2003, when Cuesta established the Outstanding Athlete of the Year Award, which allowed the George Silveria Award to stand on its own as a career award. It was decided that the merits emphasized with the award were not restricted by gender and the athletic department returned to only one award per year. This is the 56th year of Cuesta College Athletics and the 56th year of the George Silveria Award.
The 2021 George Silveria Athletic Career Award winner is Aquatics Star Satoshi Shinkawa (Kingsburg HS). Shinkawa earned all-conference honors twice in swimming and once in water polo. He is a four-time academic all-conference selection, has maintained a 3.5 grade-point average at Cuesta and has committed to UC Davis for the 2021-22 school year. Coach John Marsh has been his coach for the past three years and nominated him by saying, "Satoshi is what makes coaching worth it. He has done everything that we have asked of him academically and athletically. He comes from a great family and is an exceptional young man. He is the ultimate team player and will sacrifice for the betterment of the team goal. He has been the first to arrive and the last to leave over his time here at Cuesta, be it at the pool or classroom." Shinkawa has been a leader in and out of the water for Cuesta Aquatics and is also, uniquely, the second member of his family to win an end of the year award at Cuesta College. His mother, Stephanie Shinkawa, was the 2020 Cuesta College Alberta Deutsche Fan of the Year.
Shinkawa began his career at Cuesta College as a member of the 2018 Men's Water Polo team. He was a member of an all-freshman starting line-up that led the program to 2nd place in the Western State Conference (WSC) and its 40th consecutive playoff berth. The Cougars reached the second round of the playoffs and finished the season with a 22-10 record. Shinkawa was the only player to start and play all 32 games and scored 12 goals on the season. He was accorded all-WSC Honorable Mention after the season. In his second season of water polo, Shinkawa stepped back into a reserve role and scored five goals during his sophomore campaign. He helped lead the Cougars to a 26-9 record and reach the post-season for the 41st straight year, while also ended the program's conference title draught.
In the Spring of 2019, Shinkawa starred on the Cougars' Swim & Dive team. He led the Cougars to 4th place as a team in the Western State Conference and was second on the team with 48 individual points at the WSC finals. He was even better two weeks later at the 2019 California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA) State Championships. He led the team with 21 points, while finishing 5th in the State in the 200-butterfly and 12th in the 400-Individual Medley. In 2020, the Cougars only got through the first month off the season before the pandemic arrived, but they won all five of their meets. Shinkawa showed great promise, but only competed in eight individual events before the shutdown, however he finished 1st or 2nd in six of those starts. He returned to competition this year and dominated the Cougars' abbreviated three-meet schedule. Shinkawa won seven of his nine starts on the year, including all four in the 2021 WSC Championship to tie teammate Lucas Esenwein (Morro Bay HS) for the meet's point title. He ends his Cuesta Aquatic career with five all-time Top 10 marks. He holds the Cuesta record for the 50-Butterfly (:24.10) and ranks #2 all time at Cuesta in both the 100-Butterfly (:51.43) and 200-Butterfly (1:56.01). In a demonstration of his versatility and mastery of all strokes, Shinkawa ranks #7 all time at Cuesta in the 100-Individual Medley (:58.84) and #8 in the 400-IM (4:18.02).
George Silveria Career Award
1966 Ray Salyer (FB, MBB, BB)
1967 Mark Anderson (MXC, MTF)
1968 Jim Sunderland (Wrest)
1969 Richard Abney (FB, Wrest)
1970 Steve Mowrey (Golf)
1971 Larry Ramos (FB, Wrest)
1972 George Palmer (Wrest)
1973 Camillo Alarcio (FB, Wrest)
1974 Paul Kinne (FB, BB)
1975 Rusty Kuntz (FB, MBB, BB)
& Dave Rusco (MBB, BB)
1976 Kevin Hunstad (FB, Wrest)
1977 Randy Roeder (FB, BB)
Male Female
1978 Edmund Alarcio (FB, MTF) Laura McCarthy (WXC, WTF)
1979 Shawn Kuhn (MBB, Golf) Celeste Martyn (WXC, WTF)
1980 Steve Mitchell (MBB, MTF) Catherine Belcher (WXC, WTF, SB)
1981 Gregg Fambrough (MWP, MSD) Joanne Cooper (VB)
1982 Tom McKeown (MXC, MTF) Heidi Hausner (VB, WSD)
1983 Matt Armbruster (MXC, MTF) Karen Canfield (SB)
1984 Bill Lucia (MWP, MSD) Toni Venturini (VB)
1985 Sean Chambers (MBB, MTF) Kelly Buzza (WXC, WTF)
1986 Hank Peterson (MWP, MSD) Tracey Ross (WXC, WTF)
1987 Karl Blum (MWP, MSD) Cathy Jones (WXC, WTF)
1988 Todd Bates (MWP, MSD) Jennifer Bland (WSD)
& Kelly Porter (MWP, MSD)
1989 Brad Dodge (MT) Vanessa Hornbuckle (VB, WBB)
& Kathryn Krieger (WXC, WTF)
1990 Steve Long (MWP, MSD) Monica Castro (WT)
1991 Dean Jefferis (MWP, MSD) Melissa McCormick (WSD)
& Cee Cee Yancy (WBB)
1992 Geoff Bradshaw (MTF) Alyssa Van Schmus (WTF)
1993 Kipp Ortenberger (MXC, MTF) Erin Breeze (VB, WBB)
1994 Kipp Ortenberger (MXC, MTF) Wendy Ward (VB, WBB)
1995 Mike Barrow (MWP, MSD) Courtney Peters (WT)
1996 Shannon Lamb (MWP, MSD) Carrie Musolff (VB, WBB, WT)
1997 Marco Hanlon (BB) Anicia Bonds (WBB, WTF)
1998 Mark Merlo (MWP, MSD) Ashley Messer (VB, WBB)
1999 Chris Lund (MWP, MSD) Ashley Messer (VB, WBB)
2000 Sergio Reyes (MXC, MTF) Mary Benson (WWP, WSD)
2001 Patrick Furelos (MWP, MSD) Melinda Flores (WXC, WTF)
2002 Doug Leach (MWP, MSD) Courtney Christy (WWP, WSD)
2003 Katie Dacus (WWP, WSD)
2004 Christina Reyes (WXC, WTF)
2005 Bryan Etnrye (MWP, MSD)
2006 Chris Stehula (MXC, MTF, MSD)
2007 Becca Reyes (WXC, WTF)
2008 Ian Starkie (MWP, MSD)
2009 Tammy Barksdale (WWP, WSD)
2010 Kayla Cribbs (VB, WBB)
2011 Evan Norton (MWP, MSD)
2012 Alexandria Bernard (WWP, WSD)
2013 Erin Casey (WWP, WSD)
& Matt Giancanelli (MWP, MSD)
2014 Riley Cooks (WVB, WTF)
2015 Rachel Gruetzmacher (WWP, WSD)
2016 Aly Voth (WXC, WTF)
2017 Sean McDermott (MXC, MTF)
2018 Austin Barton (MWP, MSD)
2019 Hannah Katches (VB, WBB, WTF)
2020 Gabriel Browning (MWP, MSD)
2021 Satoshi Shinkawa (MWP, MSD)
